Chickpea, lentil and pea response to delayed spring seeding on the Northern Great Plains

Abstract

We compared the effects of spring seeding date on stand density, crop growth, seed yield, water-use-efficiency, and grain quality of three pulse crops [chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) and pea (Pisum sativum L.)] grown at Scott and Swift Current, SK, during 1993 to 1997. Wheat (Triticum aestivum L. emend. Thell.) was used as a reference crop. Seeding date did not meaningfully affect plant density for chickpea, lentil or pea. Crop growth stage related to thermal time resulted in robust prediction equations for chickpea, lentil and pea (R2 = 0.87 to 0.98). When seeding was delayed 2 wk, the crop response was inconsistent. When seeding was delayed by 4 wk, consistent, mainly negative, effects on crop parameters occurred due to the exacerbation of summer drought stress. Pulse crop yields were more negatively affected by delayed seeding than were wheat yields. When seeding of chickpea, lentil, and pea was delayed 4 wk, seed yield decreased at the majority of site-years. When yield reductions occurred, the average reductions were 44, 38, and 31%, for the respective species. For chickpea and lentil, seeding delays of 2 and 4 wk decreased seed size at the majority of site-years with seed size reductions averaging 10% when they occurred. In the semiarid Northern Great Plains (NGP), chickpea, lentil, and pea should be seeded before spring wheat due to a greater risk of loss of yield and quality. Key words: Chickpea, growth stage, lentil, northern great plains, pea, seeding date